


Brave

by DustyTales



Series: Ghost on the Dance Floor [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2020-10-20 07:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20671565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustyTales/pseuds/DustyTales
Summary: My name is Wally West, and I am a time traveler.This is the story of my 5 year journey home.





	1. First Things First

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically part my Ghost on the Dance Floor series, but you won't need to have read that to understand this. It has some callbacks, but all events in the story take place before everything else written, Wally is just writing his journal about it during the events of the series.

I know in a journal it probably makes sense to talk about things in chronological order, but I don't know if I'm ready to talk about Rudy yet. 

And this is my journal. I make the rules.

It seems silly to introduce myself to a piece of paper, but if this journal is really going to catalogue everything I went through, I have to start somewhere I guess. Even if I feel stupid saying it.

My name is Wally West, and I am the fastest man alive. I used to go by "Kid Flash," but since I'm 25 now, I guess there's just more than one "Flash" running around. The year is 2019, and I live on Earth. One of the Barrys I met in my adventures said each universe can be classified by a definitive number being given to each Earth, but I never did find out what number Earth I'm from. Just that it's not Earth 3, or Earth 16.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

On March 16, 2013, I died. I went too fast, and I was completely absorbed by the speed force. My friends and family held a funeral, even though there was nothing to bury.

I wasn't really dead, but I don't blame them for thinking I was. I had thought I was dead too.

Being part of the speed force is disorienting. To be completely absorbed the way I was, a Speedster needs to go fast enough to approach the speed of light. At speeds that high, it becomes impossible for objects to have mass, which was a bit of a problem given that I am a person, and people are made of mass. (Technical, I know.) 

For as long as I was part of the speed force, I was made of pure energy. At first I thought I was dead, because without mass there was nothing to perceive. I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. There was only momentum. I only realized I was still alive when I realized I was moving, and that if I was moving, I could stop.

But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself again.

When I tell my story I say I was away from home for 5 years, but I guess that isn't really true. On my end, it was less than 2 years, but I'm starting to realize time and space are more malleable constructs than I originally thought. All I can say for sure is every time I re-entered the speed force, I came back out in a different point in the multiverse than I entered from. So more accurately than time, I was away for 5  _ universes _ .

My name is Wally West. I am a time traveler, and this is my story.


	2. And in my mind, after all this time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first person I met when I exited the speed force was almost like myself, as a kid.  
Except everything was wrong.

I keep saying that I feel like I should start in chronological order, but the first place I went to I spent the longest time in, and it took the biggest toll on my psyche.

Dick keeps telling me it's okay to take things at my own pace, and that I don't need to push myself to share before I'm ready. I know he's right, deep down, but the fact I can't put this to paper frustrates me. The whole reason I started keeping this journal was so I wouldn't forget where I've been and the people I met along the way.

The memories get fuzzy around the edges, and I don't want to lose them.

Some of them are just too important.

But I guess I can start with what I  _ can  _ say, and come back to the rest later.

That seems fair.

Coming out of the speed force for the first time after my "death" was an ordeal. For one thing, since I couldn't feel anything or perceive much when running close to the speed of light, I hadn't even realized I was running at first. I had thought I was dead, and being dead was just swirling colors and the sensation of falling. I eventually realized that I was moving though, and that, at least, was something I could choose to stop doing.

I didn't land gracefully.

What happened when I stopped is complicated, and I have a theory on why it happened the way it did, but it  _ is _ only a theory. Something similar happened when I exited the speed force at other points too, so that part holds up at least.

Shoot, I'm getting ahead of myself again.

So when I exited the speed force, I ran head-long into that time line's Wally West. I suspect I was attracted to him as a target unintentionally since the universe didn't like there being two of us, and was trying to mash us together into one person.

I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out.

When I ran into the kid, I learned things about him. It's like our minds crossed for a second, and I gained access to some of his memories. Or something.

I also became addicted to cigarettes all of sudden despite never picking one up in my life, just cause the kid was a chain smoker since age 12. 

That part kinda sucked.

So about this kid, right? His name was Wally West, obviously. But he went by our middle name, Rudy. I guess he had a better relationship with his dad than I did with mine, but I never found out for sure.

I learned a lot about him when we crashed into each other, though.

I learned he didn't trust easily, that he has pretty much no friends his age. No Teen Titans, no Kid Flash and Robin… nothing. 

I learned  _ his  _ Barry died shortly after Rudy got his powers, leaving him the only speedster on earth at age  _ 12  _ with no one to teach him the ropes.

I learned he had a mean streak. He was rude, and obnoxious, and only seemed to continue as a hero because he didn't know what else to do with his life.

I learned he was 16 and had already dropped out of school. 

I learned he got snake bite piercings at age 14.

I learned that he had no adults in his life that he trusted, and only called on other heroes when he had no idea what else to do.

Shortly after we collided, I vomited from the overstimulation of running for so long, and promptly passed out. 

The sight of this was enough to make even Rudy call Batman for help.

And after that we

Fuck

I'm sorry kid.

  
  


I miss you.

I hope you're okay without me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The titles being based of Owl City's "Be Brave" will be necessary info for understanding the chapter titles


End file.
